The crews were drafted in for the first time as the private company struggled with a traditional spike in Bank Holiday tip traffic.

But this year binmen claim numbers have been swelled to breaking point by the city council’s decision to scrap free doorstep green waste collections.

Residents who want binmen to cart-off their grass cuttings now have to pay £35, those who don’t buy into the scheme face trips to the tips. To date, only 20,000 of the city’s 400,000 householders have forked out the fee.

One binman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “This is madness, absolute madness. We’re not happy because we’ve got other things to do - like collect household rubbish.

“And we’re the ones who’ll cop the flak on the street from residents who haven’t had their collections. It’s crazy. Instead of having their green waste collected from outside houses by us, they’re giving it to us at the tips.

“People need to know they are paying taxes so we can work for a private firm.”

Another worker said: “The atmosphere is diabolical. It’s hot, there are long queues and this isn’t our job.”

A spokeswoman for Veolia confirmed four council bin lorries, with five men to each wagon, have been placed at the tips to help ease congestion. “They are helping us to move the waste around the site. We work in partnership with Birmingham City Council and they are helping us out.”

Veolia has a waste management contract with the city council.

Only this month, police were called to Lifford Lane, Kings Norton, as drivers, desperate to dump green waste, found themselves stuck in mile-long queues. Tempers frayed as motorist waited 45 minutes to use the facility.

Coun John Hunt warned at the time: “We have all seen the long queues – and they will get longer. Not only is recycling being reduced but queuing cars are adding to fumes and greenhouse gases.

“It was inevitable that residents would decide to take their garden waste to recycling centres once the council decided to press ahead with its ill-conceived charging policy for garden waste.”

In a bid to ease snarl-ups, the council is looking at the viability of increasing tip opening hours. Coun James McKay, cabinet member responsible for bins, said: “We are always looking to see how we can make the service better with less and less money to do so.

“Extending the opening hours would mean spending less on something else, but we’re looking to see if there’s a way we can make it work.”

Yesterday a spokeswoman for Birmingham City Council added: “The Easter Bank Holidays are always a busy time at the council household recycling centres (HRCs) as this is a traditional time for gardening and DIY.

“In addition, some people have chosen not to opt in to the council’s green waste collection scheme and are instead taking their green waste to the HRCs.

“After some discussion with Veolia we thought it would therefore be sensible to deploy additional staff at the busiest HRCs to help. All council staff can be asked to move to different sites to take on duties that are similar to their main work and that is what has happened here.”